2019 Volume 19 Issue 2 Pages 59-65
A significant number of “unknown” metabolite peaks are usually detected in foods and other samples by mass spectrometry (MS)-based untargeted metabolome analyses. Identification and annotation of these unknowns are useful for discovery of novel functional molecules and biomarkers, and for understanding the mechanisms of living organisms. In this article, we summarize current status and issues in the MS-based metabolomics and propose a database, Food Metabolome Repository (http://metabolites.in/foods), as a new data resource for improving metabolite annotations based on the sample specificity of the unknowns.
